WG: probable regrets (9/4/07 ARIA call) and radio button wiki review

Hi gregory,

You wrote:

LeftArrow and RightArrow should be reserved for tree navigation -- why?
1. one moves through a tree using UpArrow and DownArrow
2. one expands/collapses tree items using LeftArrow and RightArrow
3. the TAB key in the tree view moves focus to the next 
   element/widget/plane/canvas/window/frame
this is the "expected user experience" on GUI platforms -- even in 
property sheets one tabs from grouping to grouping via the TAB mechanism

I agree totally, but with the small comment that LeftArrow and RightArrow 
should work also for tab-to-tab navigation (horizontal item navigation) between tabs on a tabstrip,
if tabs are aranged horizontally. There may be other use cases, too (top level menu entries in a menu bar control etc.)

An overview for which control using LeftArrow and RightArrow for NAVIGATION between control parts is ok would come in handy ...
Maybe in the best practices wiki?

Best regards,
Stefan

 

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: w3c-wai-pf-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-pf-request@w3.org] Im Auftrag von Gregory J. Rosmaita
Gesendet: Dienstag, 4. September 2007 00:29
An: w3c-wai-pf@w3.org
Betreff: probable regrets (9/4/07 ARIA call) and radio button wiki review


aloha, all!

i don't know whether i will be in attendence tomorrow or not for 2 
reasons: (1) i need to have some medical testing performed in the 
morning; and (2) i am webmaster/listowner for the Linux Foundation's
Open Accessibility (A11y) Working Group, and the Open A11y WG telecon
is also at 2pm; if i can make it to one or the other, i doubt i can 
monitor the other via IRC, as the A11y WG also has an IRC channel 
open during its teleconferences on the irc.freestandards.org server;

there is always the chance that the meeting might be cancelled after
15 to 20 minutes, due to the lack of a quorum or key participants in
the deliverables we are currently working on, which would mean that 
both janina (who is chair of the Open A11y WG) and i would be able to
join the call late -- as i have to give a report on website updates 
and feedback during this general call, as well as field any questions 
or requests pertaining to the Open A11y web site, and i am usually the 
minute-taker for the general call as well...

so, having made my prefatory remarks, and tendered my tentative, but 
probable regrets, i wanted to reply to LisaP's request that i review 
the radio button ARIA best practices wiki page: (sorry for not replying
sooner or less impersonally, LisaP)

i am still convinced that radio buttons should have only 2 navigation 
keys available/assigned to them: the UpArrow and the DownArrow

i still think that in the case of radio buttons, movement between buttons
should be limited to the up and down buttons, and that tabbing to a 
grouping without a preselected button gives that grouping focus, and a 
DownArrow or UpArrow starts navigation of the grouping (down moving 
forward, up moving backwards)

LeftArrow and RightArrow should be reserved for tree navigation -- why?

1. one moves through a tree using UpArrow and DownArrow

2. one expands/collapses tree items using LeftArrow and RightArrow

3. the TAB key in the tree view moves focus to the next 
   element/widget/plane/canvas/window/frame

this is the "expected user experience" on GUI platforms -- even in 
property sheets one tabs from grouping to grouping via the TAB mechanism

this also means that even if radio buttons are separated into 2 columns 
to conserve screen real estate, the UpArrow and DownArrow buttons SHOULD 
be sufficient to cycle through an explicit set of radio buttons, no 
matter how they are rendered, in order, beginning with the first radio 
button defined for the grouping unless the grouping includes an author-
defined pre-selected radio button; moreover, the "tree view" has been 
working its way into HTML for quite some time now, and i don't think 
that the activate branch to expose leaves will forever be hyperlinks 
(activate once to expand, activate a second time to close, be they 
textually or graphically linked), but rather will build custom widgets 
that function as "true" trees...

gregory.

----------------------------------------------------------------
CONSERVATIVE, n.  A statesman who is enamored of existing evils,
as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them 
with others.         -- Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_
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             Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net
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Received on Wednesday, 5 September 2007 07:07:53 UTC